Greater Starkville Development Partnership officials are hopeful the state’s hottest college rivalry will produce a large turnout for the fourth annual Starkville Restaurant Week.
This year’s event is scheduled from March 28 to April 3, which coincides with the weekend home baseball series between Mississippi State University and Ole Miss.
SRW launched in 2012 as a way to boost restaurant visits in March — specifically the week after spring break, with its historically sluggish sales receipts — and showcase the city’s growing culinary scene.
Officials expanded last year’s event to 10 days to ensure baseball crowds would be in Starkville for another home series but failed to reach 2013’s record-setting marks.
Although March 21-28 features four home baseball games, Greater Starkville Development Partnership Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Gregory confirmed her organization is abandoning the spring break timeline since the March 14-18 student holiday falls the week before Easter.
SRW will also move back to its usual seven-day schedule, she said.
“(If the GSDP maintained its spring break timing) … students would get back from spring break, go to class Monday through Thursday and be gone on Good Friday and that weekend. We want more than a four-day Restaurant Week,” she said. “We chose next year’s dates primarily because of the tourism factor.”
The Partnership has yet to set a firm date to receive nominations for SRW’s charity aspect, but Gregory said submissions should occur in early February. After reviewing nominations, the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Trustees, a group within the Partnership’s umbrella of services, picks three area charities to vie for a sliding scale of cash donations.
Ballots are cast by diners when the visit participating restaurants, and the top grossing charity wins the main prize.
GSDP officials use those ballots to determine SRW attendance, tracks its advertising effectiveness through entries for zip codes — where customers come from — and grows its databases with provided email addresses.
Participating restaurants pay a $100 entry fee, and the Partnership uses a portion budget to advertise to specific markets expected to visit Starkville for the baseball series.
Last year, MSU’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic was the top charity vote-getter and won a $5,000 cash donation, beating out Starkville Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army.
Cadence Bank is expected to remain the event’s primary sponsor and again award the $5,000 donation.
Gregory said the Partnership is still working to secure the second- and third-place sponsors, and is looking to add additional sponsorship opportunities.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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